Sheriff set for return of Stoichiţă

FC Sheriff welcome back former coach Mihai Stoichiţă on Matchday 5 as he returns in charge of FC Steaua Bucureşti with both sides looking to climb towards the Group H qualification spots.

• Out of the two clubs, it is the hosts who have the best chance of gaining a top-two place. Sheriff would move into a qualifying position if they beat Steaua and FC Twente lose at home against Fenerbahçe SK. Steaua – without a victory in four games – can only progress if they take maximum points from their two remaining games and Twente do not win at home against Fenerbahçe.

Previous meetings• The first meeting of clubs from Moldova and neighbouring Romania ended in an inconclusive 0-0 draw on Matchday 1. Their respective national teams have played in five friendlies over the years, with Romania winning four games and the other – the only one staged in Moldova – ending in a draw.

Match background• A 2-0 win against Twente on Matchday 3 ended Sheriff's three-game wait for a home success in Europe, during which they had failed to score. They have scored only three goals in five continental home games this season.

• Steaua's away record in UEFA club competition group-stage outings is not great – they have won only two of 24 fixtures on their travels, the most recent of them a 4-1 UEFA Champions League triumph at FC Dynamo Kyiv on 13 September 2006. They have not won in ten away games since.

• Steaua have conceded 296 goals in 229 UEFA club competition encounters, leaving them four shy of shipping their 300th.

Team facts• Steaua became the first side to dismiss their coach after the start of the group stage when owner George Becali sacked Italian trainer Cristiano Bergodi on the night of their 0-0 Matchday 1 draw with Sheriff.

• His replacement was Stoichiţă, who has returned to Steaua after leading them to the Romanian title in 1998. He took charge of Sheriff in 2001/02, when they picked up the Moldovan championship, and also coached PFC Litex Lovech, Panama, Armenia, Kuwait and most recently AEL Limassol FC in Cyprus.

• Sheriff's coach is Belarussian Leonid Kuchuk, who has led the club to the last six of their nine straight Moldovan titles since stepping up from the position of youth-team trainer in January 2004. This is the longest current winning streak in European football, and the coach said: "The secret of our success is simple. Every draw for us is like a defeat and every defeat is like a natural disaster."

• The coach's son, Aleksei, plays up front for Sheriff.

• As well as Stoichiţă, another man with Steaua connections – 1980s star Gavril 'Pele' Balinţ – has also taken charge of Sheriff in recent years.

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